Google Desktop Searches Per U.S. User Fall 20% Year-over-Year

Despite the drop in search frequency, Google’s grip on the desktop remains steady, accounting for roughly 10% of all U.S. desktop activity. However, the way people interact with that 10% has fundamentally changed.

The “Efficiency” of AI Answers

The report indicates that the decline isn’t due to a loss of users, but a loss of repeat searches.

• One-and-Done: AI-powered answers and instant results mean users often get what they need without running a second, third, or fourth search to “refine” their results.
• U.S. vs. Europe: Interestingly, this 20% drop is a uniquely American phenomenon. In the EU and UK, searches per user declined by only 2% to 3%, suggesting that AI search features (and their regulatory rollout) are impacting U.S. behavior much more aggressively.

Queries Are Getting Longer and More Complex

As users become more comfortable with conversational AI, the way they phrase their needs is evolving:

• Mid-length growth: Queries between 6 and 9 words are the fastest-growing segment in the U.S.
• Natural Language: Users are expressing complex needs directly in the search bar rather than using fragmented keywords.
• Volatility at the Tail: Very long queries (15+ words) remain rare but show high volatility, signaling that power users are still experimenting with the limits of what Google can understand.

The Concentrated Discovery Problem

For publishers and independent creators, the data is sobering. Discovery is becoming increasingly concentrated among a few “Goliaths.”

• The Top 5 Stay the Same: YouTube, Reddit, Amazon, Wikipedia, and Facebook continue to dominate the post-search landscape.
• AI Destinations: ChatGPT has climbed to No. 7 among U.S. search destinations, while older platforms like Quora have dropped out of the top 15.
• AI Traffic Flow: Traffic generated by AI tools isn’t going to the “long tail” of the web. Instead, it flows back to established giants like GitHub, Wikipedia, and Google-owned properties.

The State of the AI Market

While AI is “reshaping” search, it isn’t “replacing” it yet.

• Total Activity: All AI tools combined still account for less than 1% (0.77%) of total U.S. desktop activity.
• The Leaderboard: ChatGPT remains the dominant AI tool, with Google Gemini emerging as the clear No. 2, overtaking DeepSeek in late 2025.
• Google AI Mode: While growing, Google’s dedicated “AI Mode” accounted for only 0.06% of desktop events by December 2025.

What This Means for Digital Strategy

Rand Fishkin, CEO of SparkToro, notes that AI answers have “dramatically altered” user engagement. If users are finding answers before they ever need to click an organic result, the traditional SEO funnel is shrinking.

The takeaway for 2026: Winning in search now requires being the “source of truth” that AI models cite, rather than just ranking for high-volume keywords that are now being answered instantly on the SERP.